Judge appoints administrator for Parmalat Brasil

A Sao Paulo judge appointed a special administrator late on Wednesday to run Italian food group Parmalat's main unit in Brazil, as the country's Central Bank said it was investigating hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal transfers.
Parmalat Brasil said a judge from the state of Sao Paulo had tapped Keyler Carvalho Rocha, a former Central Bank director, to head Parmalat Brasil Industria de Alimentos, the Italian company's main operating subsidiary in Brazil.
Its current president, Ricardo Goncalves, was informed of the decision on Wednesday night and plans to submit his resignation on Thursday, the company's press office said.
The unit, which employs a sixth of Parmalat's global workforce, or about 6,000 people, has come under increasing pressure ever since its parent company unveiled a multibillion-euro hole in its accounts two months ago, triggering a widespread fraud investigation in Italy and various probes in Brazil.
Ten people, including Parmalat's founder Calisto Tanzi, have been arrested in Italy. No one has been arrested in Brazil.
On Wednesday, Brazil's Central Bank said it was investigating hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal transfers by Parmalat to and from Brazil between 1997 and 1999.